Media Release

13 March 2007

Further Political Repression by the Mugabe Regime in
Zimbabwe

The brutal suppression of a rally in Zimbabwe over the weekend
by the Mugabe Government, including killing an opposition activist,
is further evidence of the regime’s utter disregard for basic
democratic principles and the human rights of the people of
Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwean security forces arrested several participants in the
rally organised by the civil society group Save Zimbabwe Coalition,
including leaders of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change’s (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutumbara, as
they arrived at the township of Highfield in Zimbabwe’s
capital Harare on Sunday. There are reports that some of
those arrested have been beaten.

These latest arrests form part of an intensifying cycle of
repression by the Mugabe regime. They follow the suppression
of MDC rallies in Highfield last month, despite a court order
permitting the rallies to go ahead and a three month ban on all
political rallies imposed under the draconian Public Order and
Security Act.

They are clear signs of the Mugabe Government’s
desperation to cling to power in the face of its growing
unpopularity amongst the people of Zimbabwe. The Mugabe
Government’s disastrous policies have crippled a once
thriving economy, leaving Zimbabweans enduring hyper-inflation at
over 1600%, over 80% of the population unemployed and living below
the poverty line and with the lowest life expectancy of any country
in the world.

I call on the Government of Zimbabwe to release those arrested,
to revoke the ban on political activity and to implement immediate
political and economic reforms.